Men's Football Blog

BYU Athletics caught up with senior running back Bryan Kariya during his first media day experience.

"This is cool because it gives us the opportunity to get all these things out and be able to focus on football stuff after this," Kariya said. "It's good to be able to talk to the media and let our fans know what we're doing and then be able to focus on football and take care of business at the right time."

Media day not only has the media and fans excited about football season, but also the players. Kariya joined Jake Heaps, Matt Reynolds, JJ Di Luigi and many other players in expressing excitement for fall camp.

"It kind of I think shows a transition from the summer really heading into season," Kariya said. "It really gets me excited to get to fall camp and get those things going."

Fall camp will give Kariya and his teammates a chance to see new things.

"I think it's going to be really cool to see how our special teams are going to turn out this year," Kariya said. "There has been a huge emphasis on that in the offseason. With all the new coaching staff, it's going to be this coaching staff's first fall camp together so that'll be something to look forward to."

Kariya said there isn't one team he's most looking forward to; he's excited for the entire schedule.

"We have an awesome schedule and I'm glad to be here for my senior season in independence," Kariya said.

Besides head coach Bronco Mendenhall announcing a three-year extension, other coaches also participated in the breakout session including Brandon Doman, quarterback coach and newly-instated offensive coordinator, Joe Dupaix, who is joining the Cougars this year as running back coach and recruiting coordinator and Nick Howell, secondary and special teams coach. We asked them their thoughts on Media Day and the upcoming season.

Brandon Doman

On BYU’s quarterback situation:

“I was given the charge when I took the job to never allow BYU football to be in a position without quarterbacks. This is the strongest we’ve been since I’ve been here and I hope to keep it that way.”

On Media Day:

“This is a surreal experience for me coming into this new facility at this time to a new era of BYU football as a brand new offensive coordinator. I feel really fortunate and highly motivated because I recognize and understand the opportunity that is at hand right now. “

How does this Media Day compare to ones you participated in as an athlete here at BYU?

“You don’t have to go on a plane and fly anywhere and you don’t have the competition with other coaches and other athletes. You’re in a facility that is second to none on your own campus with partners like ESPN and BYUtv. I think it’s not only a plus for us but for all of the media that are present.”

Joe DuPaix

What do you do in the summer to become cohesive as a staff?

"We still get together and text each other all of the time. I go golfing with Coach Doman and some other people. We're still in contact all of the time. We have a great staff and we're really excited to be working together as a staff. We're having a good time and why shouldn't we be? We work at BYU. We work with great young men and we're just excited to be here."

How does independence help with recruiting?

"We can recruit anyone from the country, we always have done that, but now we can play anyone in the country. We're not tied in to just one conference, so being able to play in Florida or wherever, we can attract more attention from recruits in those areas and so that's going to help tremendously and we're just going to work our tails off to be able to find the best in the country to come play at BYU."

Nick Howell

What are your first impressions of the new BYU Broadcasting building?

"This building is unbelievable. The facilities are awesome. I'd never been up here before so I'm really impressed."

Thoughts on the upcoming season:

"We're way excited about this season. We feel like we have a lot of talent in the secondary. We lost some starters, so there are some young guys who are anxious to prove they can play at this level. I know they're training hard. I trust them to do well."

How do you feel about independence?

"What a great opportunity for our university and for our faith and for the chance to get out there and play on the biggest stage. It's two-fold. We get to represent what we believe in and then play the game that we love and do it at the highest level. It's exciting, it's a challenge and that's what athletics are about."